Controlling electronic equipment with a touching-type signal input device

ABSTRACT

Electronic equipment is controlled with a touching-type signal input device. An inputted navigator-calling request is received. A request mode of the inputted navigator-calling request is compared with a predefined request mode. It is determined whether the request mode of the inputted navigator-calling request matches with the predefined request mode. A navigator is displayed in response to determining there is a match. The navigator has a set of tabs distributed on at least part of a closed structure.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and claims the benefit of ChinesePatent Application Serial No. 201010532229.1 titled “METHOD AND SYSTEMFOR CONTROLLING ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT WITH TOUCHING-TYPE SIGNAL INPUTDEVICE,” which was filed in the State Intellectual Property Office ofthe People's Republic of China on Oct. 29, 2010, and which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The invention relates to electronic equipment. More particularly, thepresent invention relates to controlling electronic equipment with atouching-type signal input device.

Groups of tabs are widely used in user interfaces of web pages,applications, and browsers. A user locates a corresponding web page orview by clicking a tab in a group of tabs, so as to switch and browseamong multiple web pages or views.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A method for controlling electronic equipment with a touching-typesignal input device, involves receiving an inputted navigator-callingrequest; comparing a request mode of the inputted navigator-callingrequest with a predefined request mode; determining whether the requestmode of the inputted navigator-calling request matches with thepredefined request mode; and displaying a navigator in response todetermining there is a match, where the navigator has a plurality oftabs distributed on at least part of a closed structure.

A system for controlling electronic equipment with a touching-typesignal input device includes a display and a processor programmed toreceive an inputted navigator-calling request; compare a request mode ofthe inputted navigator-calling request with a predefined request mode;determine whether the request mode of the inputted navigator-callingrequest matches with the predefined request mode; and display anavigator in response to determining there is a match on the display,where the navigator has a plurality of tabs distributed on at least partof a closed structure.

A computer program product includes a computer readable storage mediumincluding computer readable program code, where the computer readableprogram code when executed on a computer causes the computer to receivean inputted navigator-calling request; compare a request mode of theinputted navigator-calling request with a predefined request mode;determine whether the request mode of the inputted navigator-callingrequest matches with the predefined request mode; and display anavigator in response to determining there is a match, where thenavigator has a plurality of tabs distributed on at least part of aclosed structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure may be better understood from the description given belowin conjunction with the accompany drawings, in which same or similarreference numbers represent the same or similar component throughout thedrawings. The drawings are included in the specification and constitutea part thereof along with the detailed description below, and are usedto illustrate preferred embodiments of the disclosure and explainprinciples and advantages of the present subject matter, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of an example of an implementation of a processfor controlling electronic equipment with a touching-type signal inputdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2A illustratively shows an example of an implementation of closedgraphical structures, including a circle, a circular loop, and apolygon, in which respective tabs of the navigator are distributed on atleast part of the closed structure according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2B illustratively shows an example of an implementation of closedgraphical structures, including part of a circle, part of a circularloop, and part of a polygon, in which respective tabs of the navigatorare distributed on at least part of the closed structure according to anembodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of an implementation of a systemfor controlling electronic equipment with a touching-type signal inputdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Illustrative embodiments of the disclosure will be described below inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. For clarity, not allfeatures of actual implementation are described in this specification.However, it will be appreciated that during the development of any suchactual embodiment, implementation-specific decisions may be made toachieve developers' specific goals, such as compliance withsystem-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from oneimplementation to another.

It should also be noted that, in order to avoid obscuring the presentsubject matter with unnecessary details, only means, structures, and/orprocess steps that are closely associated with the solution of thepresent subject matter are illustrated in the drawings, and otherdetails that have little relationship therewith are omitted.

Conception of the present subject matter resulted from recognition ofcertain limitations associated with conventional groupings of tabs. Itwas observed that conventional groupings of tabs do not take usabilityinto consideration when the number of tabs proliferates. Taking acurrent popular browser for example, it was observed that tabs of openedpages will all be horizontally arranged at the head of the browserwindow. As a user opens many pages, the number of the generated tabsincreases accordingly. As the number of tabs increases, the width of tabwill be too small to be identified or located, which is prone to resultin incorrect selection. At the same time, efficiency of looking up a tabis reduced as the number of tabs increases. It was additionally observedthat conventional tabs do not have page preview. With the increasingpopularity of electronic equipment with a touching-type signal inputdevice, the above drawbacks in current groupings of tabs will beespecially evident in the electronic equipment with a touching-typesignal input device.

A method for controlling electronic equipment with a touching-typesignal input device according to one example implementation of thepresent subject matter will be described in detail with reference toFIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of an example of an implementation of a process100 for controlling electronic equipment with a touching-type signalinput device. The process 100 starts at step 102. The process 100proceeds to step 104, in which an inputted navigator-calling request isreceived.

At step 106, a request mode of the inputted navigator-calling request iscompared with a predefined request mode.

At step 108, a determination is made as to whether the request mode ofthe inputted navigator-calling request matches with the predefinedrequest mode. If there is a match, at step 110, the navigator isdisplayed, where the navigator has a group/set of tabs distributed on atleast part of a closed structure. Additional details of the process 100are described further below.

According to one example implementation, the request mode of thenavigator-calling request is movement track/tracking. In response toreceiving an inputted movement track, the inputted movement track iscompared with a predefined movement track mode. If the inputted movementtrack matches with the predefined movement track mode, the navigator isdisplayed. According to another example implementation, the request modeof the navigator-calling request is a signal indicating whether a buttonthat calls the navigator is pressed. According to still another exampleimplementation, the request mode of the navigator-calling request ismovement of the electronic equipment itself, such as a shake of theelectronic equipment.

The execution of the process 100 for controlling electronic equipmentwith a touching-type signal input device according to the above exampleswill be described in detail by using a capacitor touching-type signalinput device as an example. However, it should be noted that for othertypes of touching-type signal input devices, corresponding processingmay be performed based on the type of the particular touching-typesignal input device under guidance of the concepts described herein.

Next, a detailed description will be given using the request mode of thenavigator-calling request as movement tracking for example. When auser's finger touches the touching-type signal input device ofelectronic equipment, electric charges of the touching-type signal inputdevice flows towards the human body along the finger, and thetouching-type signal input device generates location data by sensingsuch movement of the electric charges so as to locate a contactingpoint. Then, as the user's finger slides on the surface of thetouching-type signal input device, capacitance of the touching-typesignal input device changes accordingly, and generates movement trackdata of the contacting point.

The above movement track data of the contacting point is received by theelectronic equipment and is processed by a process chip of thetouching-type signal input device to convert it into a movement track.Then, the electronic equipment reads a predefined request mode stored ina memory (at this time, the example predefined request mode is apredefined movement track mode), and compares the received movementtrack mode of the movement track with the predefined movement trackmode. If the result of the above comparison shows that the inputtedmovement track matches with the predefined movement track mode, then aninstruction calling for display of navigator is sent to the electronicequipment.

The predefined movement track mode may have various forms, such asapproximately a circle, approximately an ellipse, approximately anequilateral triangle, approximately a square, etc. The predefinedmovement track mode may also be any predefined movement track. Here,detailed description will be given by using the request mode of thenavigator-calling request as a movement track, for purposes of example,though other forms of the request mode may be implemented based upon thepresent description.

For example, if the request mode of the navigator-calling request is asignal indicating whether a button that calls the navigator is pressed,when the signal is received, the electronic equipment reads thepredefined request mode stored in the memory (at this time, the examplepredefined request mode is a signal indicating that a button that callsthe navigator is pressed). If the signal indicating whether a buttonthat calls the navigator is pressed indicates that the button that callsnavigator is pressed, that is, it matches with the predefined requestmode, then an instruction calling for display of the navigator is sentto the electronic equipment. Also, for example, if the request mode ofthe navigator-calling request is a shake mode of the electronicequipment, when a shake of the electronic equipment is received, theelectronic equipment reads the predefined request mode stored in itsmemory (at this time, the example predefined request mode is apredefined shake mode of the electronic equipment, such as, rapidlymoving twice along a vertical direction or rapidly moving three timesalong a horizontal direction), and compares the received shake mode ofthe electronic equipment with the predefined shake mode of theelectronic equipment. An instruction calling for display of thenavigator is sent to the electronic equipment if the result of the abovecomparison matches.

FIG. 2 illustratively shows an example of an implementation of closedgraphical structures in which respective tabs of the navigator aredistributed on at least part of the closed structure.

According to example implementations, the closed structure may be acircle, an ellipse, a circular loop, an elliptical loop, a polygon andthe like, and respective tabs may be distributed on the circle, ellipse,circular loop, elliptical loop, polygon, respectively.

FIG. 2A illustratively shows an example of an implementation of a circle202, a circular loop 204, and a polygon 206. The description will begiven with reference to FIG. 2A.

When the closed structure is the circle 202, respective tabs of thenavigator are distributed on the circle 202. That is, each respectivetab occupies the circle 202 respectively in a form of a sector.

When the closed structure is the circular loop 204, respective tabs ofthe navigator are distributed on the circular loop 204. That is, eachrespective tab occupies the circular loop 204 respectively in a form ofa sector loop.

When the closed structure is the polygon 206, respective tabs of thenavigator are distributed on the polygon 206. That is, each respectivetab is distributed on an edge of the polygon 206. Each respective tabmay occupy one or more edges of the polygon 206 respectively, ormultiple tabs may occupy one edge of the polygon 206. The polygon 206may be regular or irregular in shape. The polygon 206 shown in FIG. 2Ais a form like a “loop shape.” According to an example implementation,the polygon 206 may also be a circle-like full-filled structure.

According to one example implementation, at least one of the multipletabs is an aggregation tab that represents a set/group ofrelevant/related tabs.

For example, the set of related tabs may correspond to applicationsrelated to social network sites, such as clients of Facebook®, Twitter®,MySpace®, etc. In another example, the set of related tabs maycorrespond to applications related to instant messaging, such as clientsof MSN® Messenger, ICQ®, Jabber®, Skype®, Yahoo® Messenger, GTalk®, etc.

For example, the set of related tabs may all include web pages of achild web site relevant to a web site www.company.com, such as web pagesof four relevant child web sites belonging to the home sitewww.company.com as follows:

-   -   www.company.com/solutions/us/en,    -   www.company.com/technologyservices/us/en,    -   www.company.com/products/us/en, and    -   www.company.com/support/us/en.

The set of related tabs in another example may all include web pages ofa child web site relevant to a web site www.searchComany.com, such asweb pages of ten relevant child web sites belonging to the home sitewww.searchComany.com as follows:

-   -   gmail.searchComany.com    -   news.searchComany.com    -   maps.searchComany.com    -   image.searchComany.com    -   video.searchComany.com    -   docs.searchComany.com    -   books.searchComany.com    -   translate.searchComany.com    -   scholar.searchComany.com    -   picasaweb.searchComany.com

According to one example implementation, an area of an aggregation tabis proportional to a number of tabs represented by the aggregation tab.Taking the above described content for example, it is assumed that theset of tabs represented by aggregation tab one (1) corresponds toapplications relevant to social network sites, such as three clients ofFacebook®, Twitter®, and MySpace®. The set of tabs represented byaggregation tab two (2) corresponds to applications relevant to instantmessaging, such as six clients of MSN® Messenger, ICQ®, Jabber®, Skype®,Yahoo® Messenger, and GTalk®. According to the above exampleimplementation, there should be a relationship/ratio of one to two (1:2)between an area of aggregation tab one (1) and an area of aggregationtab two (2). Still taking the above described content for example, it isassumed that a set of tabs represented by an aggregation tab three (3)corresponds to web pages of four child web sites relevant to web sitewww.company.com, and a set of tabs represented by an aggregation tabfour (4) corresponds to web pages of ten child web sites relevant to website www.searchCompany.com. According to the above exampleimplementation, there should be a relationship/ratio of two to five(2:5) between an area of the aggregation tab three (3) and an area ofaggregation tab four (4). According to another example, an area of anaggregation tab and a number of tabs represented by the aggregation tabare in a relationship of increasing function, that is, the area of theaggregation tab increases as the number of tabs represented by therespective aggregation tab increases.

According to other example implementations, the closed structure may bea circle, an ellipse, a circular loop, an elliptical loop, a polygon,and the like. Accordingly, part of the closed structure may be part of acircle, an ellipse, a circular loop, an elliptical loop, a polygon, andthe like.

FIG. 2B illustratively shows an example of an implementation of part ofa circle 208, part of a circular loop 210, and part of a polygon 212.The description will be given with reference to FIG. 2B.

When the part of the closed structure is the part of the circle 208,respective tabs of the navigator are distributed on the part of thecircle 208. That is, each respective tab occupies part of the partialcircle respectively in a form of a sector.

When the part of the closed structure is the part of the circular loop210, respective tabs of the navigator are distributed on the part of thecircular loop 210. That is, each respective tab occupies part of thepartial circular loop respectively in a form of a sector loop.

When the part of the closed structure is the part of the polygon 212,respective tabs of the navigator are distributed on the part of thepolygon 212. That is, each respective tab is distributed on an edge ofthe part of the partial polygon 212. Each respective tab may occupy oneor more edges of the part of the partial polygon 212 respectively, ormultiple tabs may occupy one edge of the part of the partial polygon212. The polygon may be regular or irregular.

According to one example implementation, at least one of the set of tabsis an aggregation tab that represents a set of related tabs. Accordingto another example implementation, an area of an aggregation tab isproportional to the number of tabs represented by the aggregation tab.For detailed description, please refer to the above description, whichis omitted here for brevity.

The various example implementations described above are illustrative andnot all of them are enumerated. The present subject matter may beimplemented as long as tabs are distributed on at least part of theclosed structure, and any closed structure will fall into the inventiveconcept of the present subject matter.

Returning to the description of FIG. 1, the process 100 for controllingelectronic equipment with the touching-type signal input deviceaccording to another example implementation will be further described inconjunction with FIG. 1 (see the dashed line boxes in FIG. 1).

According to one example implementation, in step 112, in response to atab being selected, preview of content corresponding to the selected tabis displayed. Here, according to one example implementation, if theselected tab is an aggregation tab, the preview includes a set ofpreviews of content corresponding to a set of tabs represented by thataggregation tab.

Then, according to another example implementation, in step 114, inresponse to one of the set of previews being selected, contentcorresponding to the selected preview is displayed.

The process of how to realize displaying of preview of contentcorresponding to the selected tab and the like will be illustrativelydescribed below. The following description is illustrative, and anyother approach may be employed to realize displaying of preview ofcontent corresponding to the selected tab. Which approach will beemployed may be selected at implementation.

In response to a tab being selected, identification information of a webpage or application corresponding to the tab is sent to the electronicequipment. If the tab corresponds to a web page, the electronicequipment will utilize identification information to pre-fetch the webpage and display the fetched content to the user in the form of apreview. If the tab corresponds to an application, the electronicequipment will utilize identification information to read correspondingcontent of the application for preview and display it to the user in theform of a preview. How to pre-fetch a web page and read content of anapplication for preview are omitted for brevity.

If the selected tab is an aggregation tab, multiple pieces ofidentification information of a set of web pages or the set ofapplications corresponding to the aggregation tab are sent to theelectronic equipment. If the aggregation tab corresponds to a web page,the electronic equipment will utilize identification information topre-fetch the set of web pages, and display the fetched content to theuser in the form of a preview. If the aggregation tab corresponds to anapplication, the electronic equipment will utilize identificationinformation to read corresponding content of the set of applications forpreview and display it to the user in the form of a preview. At thistime, the preview will include a set of previews of contentcorresponding to a set of tabs represented by that aggregation tab, suchas preview of a set of web pages or a set of applications.

In response to one of the set of previews being selected, identificationinformation of the web pages or the applications corresponding to theselected tab is sent to the electronic equipment, and the electronicequipment will use the identification information to read the requestedweb pages or applications and display them to the user.

Referring to FIG. 3, a block diagram of an example of an implementationof a system 300 for controlling electronic equipment with atouching-type signal input device is shown. The system 300 includesreceiving means 302 configured to receive an inputted navigator-callingrequest, comparing means 304 configured to compare the request mode ofthe inputted navigator-calling request with a predefined request mode,judging means 306 configured to determine whether the request mode ofthe inputted navigator-calling request matches with the predefinedrequest mode, and displaying means 308 configured to display thenavigator in response to determining the result is a match, where thenavigator has a set of tabs distributed on at least part of a closedstructure. The closed structure may be a circle, an ellipse, a circularloop, an elliptical loop, a polygon, and the like. According to oneexample implementation, the request mode of the navigator-callingrequest is movement track. In response to receiving inputted movementtrack, the inputted movement track is compared with a predefinedmovement track. If the inputted movement track matches with thepredefined movement track, the navigator is displayed. According toanother example implementation, the request mode of thenavigator-calling request is a signal indicating whether a button thatcalls the navigator is pressed. According to still another exampleimplementation, the request mode of the navigator-calling request ismovement of the electronic equipment itself, such as a shake of theelectronic equipment.

According to one example implementation, at least one of the set of tabsis an aggregation tab and the aggregation tab represents a set ofrelevant tabs. According to one example implementation, an area ofaggregation tab is proportional to the number of tabs represented by theaggregation tab. According to one example implementation, in response toa tab being selected, the displaying means 308 displays a preview ofcontent corresponding to the selected tab. If the selected tab is anaggregation tab, the preview includes a set of previews of contentcorresponding to a set of tabs represented by that aggregation tab. Inresponse to one of the set of previews being selected, the displayingmeans 308 displays content corresponding to the selected preview.

The process of how to realize displaying of preview of contentcorresponding to the selected tab and the like will be illustrativelydescribed below. The following description is illustrative, and anyother approach may be employed to realize displaying of a preview ofcontent corresponding to the selected tab. Which approach will beemployed may be selected at the time of implementation.

In response to a tab being selected, identification information of a webpage or an application corresponding to the tab is sent to theelectronic equipment. If the tab corresponds to a web page, theelectronic equipment will utilize identification information topre-fetch the web page and send the fetched content to the displayingmeans 308 for displaying to the user in the form of a preview. If thetab corresponds to an application, the electronic equipment will utilizeidentification information to read corresponding content of theapplication for preview and send it to the displaying means 308 fordisplaying to the user in the form of a preview. How to pre-fetch a webpage or read content of an application for preview are omitted forbrevity.

If the selected tab is an aggregation tab, multiple pieces ofidentification information of a set of web pages or a set ofapplications corresponding to the aggregation tab are sent to theelectronic equipment. If the aggregation tab corresponds to a web page,the electronic equipment will utilize the identification information topre-fetch the set of web pages and send the fetched content to thedisplaying means 308 for displaying to the user in the form of apreview. If the aggregation tab corresponds to an application, theelectronic equipment will utilize the identification information to readcorresponding content of the set of applications for preview and send itto the displaying means 308 for displaying to the user in the form of apreview. At this time, the preview will include a set of previews ofcontent corresponding to a set of tabs represented by that aggregationtab, such as a preview of a set of web pages or a set of applications.

In response to one of the set of previews being selected, identificationinformation of the web page or the application corresponding to theselected tab is sent to the electronic equipment, and the electronicequipment will utilize the identification information to read therequested web page or application and send it to the displaying means308 for displaying to the user.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, amagnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium maybe any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use byor in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, ordevice.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as JAVA™, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention have been described with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablestorage medium produce an article of manufacture including instructionswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectlyto memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can includelocal memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulkstorage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at leastsome program code in order to reduce the number of times code must beretrieved from bulk storage during execution.

Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards,displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system eitherdirectly or through intervening I/0 controllers.

Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the dataprocessing system to become coupled to other data processing systems orremote printers or storage devices through intervening private or publicnetworks. Modems, cable modems and Ethernet cards are just a few of thecurrently available types of network adapters.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

1. A method for controlling electronic equipment with a touching-typesignal input device, comprising: receiving an inputted navigator-callingrequest; comparing a request mode of the inputted navigator-callingrequest with a predefined request mode; determining whether the requestmode of the inputted navigator-calling request matches with thepredefined request mode; and displaying a navigator in response todetermining there is a match, where the navigator has a plurality oftabs distributed on at least part of a closed structure.
 2. The methodof claim 1, where the request mode of the inputted navigator-callingrequest is movement track.
 3. The method of claim 1, where the closedstructure is a circle.
 4. The method of claim 1, where the closedstructure is an ellipse.
 5. The method of claim 1, where the closedstructure is a circular loop.
 6. The method of claim 1, where the closedstructure is an elliptical loop.
 7. The method of claim 1, where theclosed structure is a polygon.
 8. The method of claim 1, where at leastone tab of the plurality of tabs is an aggregation tab, where theaggregation tab represents a plurality of related tabs.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, where an area of the aggregation tab is proportional to anumber of tabs represented by the aggregation tab.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising displaying, in response to a tab of theplurality of tabs being selected, a preview of content corresponding tothe selected tab.
 11. The method of claim 10, where if the selected tabis an aggregation tab, the preview of content comprises a plurality ofpreviews of content corresponding to a plurality of tabs represented bythat aggregation tab.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprisingdisplaying, in response to one of the plurality of previews of contentbeing selected, content corresponding to the selected preview ofcontent.
 13. A system for controlling electronic equipment with atouching-type signal input device, comprising: a display; and aprocessor programmed to: receive an inputted navigator-calling request;compare a request mode of the inputted navigator-calling request with apredefined request mode; determine whether the request mode of theinputted navigator-calling request matches with the predefined requestmode; and display a navigator in response to determining there is amatch on the display, where the navigator has a plurality of tabsdistributed on at least part of a closed structure.
 14. The system ofclaim 13, where the request mode of the inputted navigator-callingrequest is movement track.
 15. The system of claim 13, where at leastone tab of the plurality of tabs is an aggregation tab, where theaggregation tab represents a plurality of related tabs.
 16. The systemof claim 15, where an area of the aggregation tab is proportional to anumber of tabs represented by the aggregation tab.
 17. The system ofclaim 15, where the processing is further programmed to display, inresponse to a tab of the plurality of tabs being selected, a preview ofcontent corresponding to the selected tab.
 18. The system of claim 17,where if the selected tab is an aggregation tab, the preview of contentcomprises a plurality of previews of content corresponding to aplurality of tabs represented by that aggregation tab.
 19. The system ofclaim 18, where the processor is further programmed to display, inresponse to one of the plurality of previews of content being selected,content corresponding to the selected preview of content.
 20. A computerprogram product comprising a computer readable storage medium includingcomputer readable program code, where the computer readable program codewhen executed on a computer causes the computer to: receive an inputtednavigator-calling request; compare a request mode of the inputtednavigator-calling request with a predefined request mode; determinewhether the request mode of the inputted navigator-calling requestmatches with the predefined request mode; and display a navigator inresponse to determining there is a match, where the navigator has aplurality of tabs distributed on at least part of a closed structure.